73 Worth Street closes by biting a very large bullet in one bite

did I say "large"?
I wish I had a transcript for the negotiating that resulted in the June 12 closing of the Manhattan loft #4B at 73 Worth Street. The ‘simple’ facts are that it had been asking $3.2mm and the deal was done well south, at $2.69mm. $510,000, or 16% — that’s a pretty big gulp.

how big was that gulp? into the way-back machine
Here’s another way to measure how big that hit was for these sellers: the June 2009 clearing price was 7% below their purchase price way back in August 2005. ($2,905,250 — with that funny number, there must have been an interesting negotiation that time, as well.)

no sales since 2005??
According to the building page on StreetEasy (here) there have been no sales in this building since 2005 — not for lack of trying. In fact, this very same loft was offered for sale for the summer of 2007 for $3.5mm before taking a year off the market and coming back in September 2008 at that same $3.5mm. That return to market was immediately before Lehman fizzled, so it was no surprise that the price that did not work in September 2007 was again not working in September 2008. It took these sellers four months to adjust that price (to $3.2mm) and then another 3 months to sign a contract.

As I said up top, negotiating 16% off the (reduced) price — to a point well below the 2005 value — must not have been easy (and it probably took a few weeks). Props to the sellers for proving that yes, they really did want to sell.

impact?
Check the building page on StreetEasy (here) to see whether (how) any currently available listings are adjusting to this news.

© Sandy Mattingly 2009